Thursday, July 22, 2010

Music Festival Prep!

Date: Monday July 12 to Thursday July 22
Day 42 to 52
Quote of the week: TIA. This is Africa


The big day for our marketing event, the Fiti Yogurt Music Festival, was supposed to be Friday July 16th. Jackel, Kinleigh, and Emily came back from safari on Monday and we had 4 days left to finish organizing everything. But...on Tuesday we found out that there was going to be a YES campaign for the August 4th constitutional referendum on the same day and at the same location as our event! We only had one option. We had to change the date of our event. We couldn't change the location because there was no way that we could compete with a political event. The YES campaign would draw much more attention than anything else.

The proposed new constitution is a big step for Kenya and I am so happy that I was there for such an important and memorable historic event :) All across Kenya there were YES and NO campaigns leading up to the big day with people wearing red and green everywhere! In Oyugis, everyone was in support of the new constitution decked out in green YES t-shirts and hats. Almost all Kenyans from the Luo tribe were in support of the constitution partly because the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, is Luo. Most of the senior figures in the coalition government were supporters of the YES campaign including Prime Minister Raila, President Mwai Kibaki, the Vice President and both deputy Prime Ministers. On the other end, the Minister for Higher Education and former president Moi led the NO campaign. Many people wondered whether or not violence would break out throughout the country like in 2008 after the disputed December 2007 Presidential election which left 1,500 people dead and more than 300,000 homeless.



We received an email from the Government of Canada warning us about potential violence that may occur. They advised us to avoid wearing red or green and avoid all gatherings - even peaceful demonstrations. The vote will take place in 2 weeks on August 4th!

I know I've mentioned this a million times but I LOVE SPEAKING LUO! I speak like the locals now, its hilarious. Everyone knows I speak Luo too so they don't even greet me in English anymore. Some guys even yell "omera!" at me which means "dude". A ridiculous amount of people know my name also.

Victor, Part 2:
I hadn't seen Victor, the 8-year old boy from the hospital who I wrote about in the blog Life is not easy, for three weeks until the evening of Monday July 19. There was a young boy who was following Emily and I for a while on our way home from the market but I didn't think anything of it. Eventually I turned around and saw that it was Victor. I couldn't believe it. I felt terrible that I hadn't been by his house to check up on him yet. Luckily two friends of mine were nearby and could translate so that I could talk to him. They helped me ask Victor what was going on which was when he told us that he forgot something at the market and his grandmother had kicked him out of the house threatening to kill him if he returned.

I had no idea what to do. I couldn't leave him alone on the streets for the night. I wanted to give him food and shelter for the night but I also didn't want to take him back to the hotel either, a place completely different from the home he knows. I got my local friends to give me advice and one of them kindly offered up his place for the night for Victor to stay. Victor didn't want to leave me and go home with a complete stranger but my friend encouraged him that he would be well taken care of and he was :) I was shook up about everything that had happened and I was terrified of sending Victor home. I didn't know what to do.

The following day I had my good friend Morris help me figure out a solution. Morris, Victor, and I sat outside on the grass behind the hotel talking for about 30 minutes about the situation and what to do. I was getting emotional when Victor told us that he never wanted to return home, he wanted a new family and to go to boarding school. Victor was quiet and soft spoken and he stared at the ground the entire time. His family could not provide for him and it seemed like he had been neglected by his parents. It was hard for me to deal with the fact that there are so many children that are in Victor's situation or worse.

After a long day Morris and I eventually spoke with a chief in town and Victor's grandmother to find a solution. Morris' mother had found out from a relative of Victor's that his family was in a poor situation after the post-election violence in 2008. Everything changed when we heard the grandmother's side of the story and learned that Victor's story was not entirely true. Victor had seen me in the market and come to me knowing that I would take good care of him and provide for him. I felt terrible that I had partly created this by helping him at the hospital a couple weeks ago but I also couldn't just leave the boy when he was that sick and needed help. I didn't know who to believe because Victor seemed so honest. What if he was telling the truth? Eventually we brought him home but I was terrified and so conflicted between the two stories. Even if the grandmother told the truth Victor had still told us that he wanted a new family and that was hard to deal with also. His father is away and only visits once a year, his mother is not mentally stable, and the family is living in poverty.

After Morris spoke with Victor's older brother at their home he realized just how bad the family's situation was. They are living in dire poverty. No animals, no crops or fertile land, and the great grandmother is not earning enough to provide for all four children plus herself and the mother. Morris and I committed ourselves to helping this family and returned on Saturday to discuss what we could do to help.
 
Fiti Yogurt - Western Heads East:
• I strongly believe that Western Heads East is an incredible organization and that the success of the yogurt project relies entirely on the people. With the right people in place this project will grow successfully and sustainably to benefit many people in the world.
• We are in the process of getting communication boards (like cork boards) made for both kitchens so that we can post documents, notes, and other materials on them for all of the Mamas. This will definitely help with communication.

PREPARATION FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL:
• Met with our MC and YOFAK (Youth Fighting AIDS In Kenya) to discuss the event and the key messages that we would like to send.
• Ran around everywhere to change the date on all of our posters and put up new ones. Kinleigh and I even put some posters on the tarmac road! It was awesome. At one point she was redirecting traffic to go around the posters on the road.

• Met with the mayor and other VIP at the Oyugis Town Council (OTC) and the police station to invite them to the Music Festival. It was an interesting experience. Everything was pretty informal but they were all extremely nice to us and being a mzungu definitely helps. There are lots of very important people that we needed to invite.
• The t-shirts we ordered didn't turn out so well... the majority of them were dirty, had oil stains, had holes in them, and/or the printing was smudged. They also were the wrong sizes. We tried to give our supplier constructive feedback to help him in the long run with his business but the t-shirts were pretty bad.
• The stage: we looked around everywhere for a stage but couldn't find anything affordable (of course most of the time there was a "mzungu mark-up" factored in). Solution....we built one! We also rented 2 tents, 50 chairs, and 4 tables
• Coordinated transportation for the Ongiya Disi Preparatory School children and the Kadongo Yogurt Mamas
• YOGURT PRODUCTION! I spent the majority of the day on Wednesday preparing to do production for Friday.
• I lead a meeting on my own with the Nyanam Women's group who is responsible for advocacy of the project. I had Morris, a translator, there which was extremely helpful. I was nervous doing the meeting alone without the other interns but it was a great experience and it went really well! I asked Mama Jessica to choose someone to start with a prayer and then we spoke for a while about the music festival and the message that we wanted to send. I was very impressed with everyone in the group as they started having their own discussion with Morris in Luo about what to say and what to do on the day of the event.
• Thursday July 22nd...the day before the music festival, and EVERYTHING goes wrong! :) O well.....we embraced it. The t-shirts and the packaging were not finished so Kinleigh worked with the supplier to finish them. The amount of milk we had ordered was a lot less because our supplier couldn't get as much as we had requested. Lastly, the stage turned out to be a disaster but everything was fixed in the end. The wood was very old and poor, it was overlapping with nails sticking out everywhere and it wasn't supportive at all. It was extremely dangerous for school children and other performers to be walking and dancing on. Ellena and the men constructing the stage were up until 1am with flashlights and headlamps on until it was complete.
• We made some posters with photos and details about the Mamas and the project. We included maps to the kitchens as well.
• One of my best friends Frank is DJing tomorrow!!!! CAN'T WAIT :)
 
CHALLENGES
• Funding. The long complicated process of transferring money from World Bank to Canada To Nairobi to Oyugis really slows things down at the kitchens and can create problems. Purchasing necessary equipment and supplies and paying suppliers is delayed sometimes which harms the business. We are trying really hard to communicate the importance of sustainability to the Mamas so that they understand that their sales will have to cover their expenses in the future when the funding stops.


Most Memorable Moments
• I met some rappers/artists in Oyugis and went to check out their production studio one day. It was really cool to be there...I loved it! I did my best to encourage them and give them some friendly advice :) Work hard, don't give up, etc. They freestyled and filmed a music video, it was sweet!
• The YES campaign in Oyugis! Everyone in town was wearing green YES t-shirts and caps (paper cut-outs). It was an incredible day to experience :)
• Ellena's surprise goodbye party! She had been living in Oyugis for over 9 months and we wanted to throw her a little bash. It was Saturday afternoon and the Oyugis Yogurt Mamas, our good friends, and some of the hotel staff were all in attendance. It was really great to chat with everyone, dance, and have fun! I had another great conversation with one of the hotel staff about Canada and Kenya, and the high population growth rates which contribute to poverty. I really enjoy having those conversations with the locals.
○ I went shopping in the market on Friday which was really fun! My good friend (Morris), Jackel, and I purchased rice and beef with some spices to make a dish called "pilau" as well as some pineapple. It was really fun to actually shop for a full meal in the market.
• Playing football with kids during the beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing it as much as last year but it is my favourite thing to do in Africa. Ahero football, ahero kids (I love football, I love kids).
• Visiting the small town of Tabaka where the majority of soapstone carvings are produced. Soapstone is used to make gorgeous chess sets, vases, bowls & plates, sculptures, jewellery boxes and so many other things. The drive from Kisii to Tabaka is stunning and the town is so quiet and peaceful. I absolutely love all of the soapstone that Tabaka has...I wish I could take it all home with me!
• Riding a camel with Emily!!!! Monday afternoon we saw a camel in Oyugis for some agricultural show going on. After thinking about it for a long time we decided to ride it and it was AMAZING! It was so spontaneous and I loved it. I was laughing hysterically because Emily was falling off the back of the camel the entire time. A large group of kids ran after us on the camel while Em and I made a pact to do 1 spontaneous amazing thing like that every day for the rest of our time in Kenya.
• The Oyugis Mamas keep joking about Morris and I getting married. We are always together now since he is one of our main translators and he's helping me out with Victor. He's a great friend who has helped us tremendously with the project!
 
Life in Oyugis
• After school children spend their evenings fetching water and fire wood and helping their parents prepare dinner.
• One of the greatest toys for a child in Oyugis is a bicycle tire. They love running around and rolling it everywhere.
 
Life in Kenya
• These big marketing shows/events are the next big thing for companies in Kenya. Safaricom, one of the major telecommunications company, started it and now EVERYONE is doing it. There was a company called Panadol, like Advil, set up with a stage (i.e. a truck), a PA system, tarps, and a DJ in Raila Grounds on Tuesday so I went to check it out for a while with a friend. When the MCs noticed me in the crowd, which wasn't very hard since I was the only mzungu, they called me out in front of everyone. Of course I couldn't understand a word they were saying because they were speaking in Kiswahili. They tried to get me to go up on stage and participate (and by participate they meant dance in front of hundreds of people) but I wasn't going to go alone.
As I stood there I was observing everything carefully to get some ideas and insight for the music festival. I wanted to make sure that I knew what happened at these events and how they were organized. Competitions with audience members and skits are the most common type of performance. Skits are very popular because they are well liked by children and they can be understood by everyone including people who are illiterate. Skits are a very effective way of engaging the audience and getting the message across.

• Primary and Secondary School in Kenya is free for everyone however the public school system is not very good and no one wants to send their children there. One public school that I know in town has 1,300 students and only 24 teachers which means there is 1 teacher for every 54 students. Not to mention that some of these teachers are not very committed, honest, or well educated. It is the same way with public hospitals.
• I LOVE the trees :) They are so big and beautiful and perfect for climbing.
 

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Ahero football! (I love football)

Date: Monday July 5 to Sunday July 11
Day 35 to 41
Quote of the week: "Sports are 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration" 

 
This week the other three interns left to go on Safari so it was just Ellena and I together in Oyugis. The week was really great and I enjoyed being on my own running around doing errands (while Ellena did interviews for her research). I really enjoy the experience of working alone in Oyugis but it is challenging and extremely tiring at times. I spent the entire week preparing for the Music Festival next week :) There is so much to do and very little time...Ellena and I are exhausted!
 
There is an organization called SEP (Society Empowerment Project) in Kotieno, a nearby village, which hosted a football tournament on Saturday to empower girls. SEP is the organization that is working with the American girl, Aliza, with the inflatable television screen for the World Cup. I helped out with the tournament and it was absolutely amazing! Aliza and I were there all day from about 10am - 3pm, there was music blasting, and we brought Fiti Yogurt and some bread to give to all of the girls for lunch. The tournament was so great and I loved it! Some of the kids are unbelievably talented football players. By the end of the day there were over 50 girls who had participated and I was so impressed with SEP. I love football and I love kids so it was the perfect day :)
 
After the football tournament on Saturday I realized what I want to do in terms of international development work. I really want to do something with children and football...possibly starting up recreational centres focused on empowerment through sport. I have a strong passion for children and I believe that sports are essential in a kid's life. Not only are sports important to develop certain skills and for the health and fitness of a child but they will help keep kids motivated and away from other not so great things. At the end of the tournament Aliza and I made some speeches to all of the girls. I encouraged the girls to continue practicing "pile pile" ("every day" in Luo), and to follow their dreams and work hard. It was such a great day and I was really happy.
 
Fiti Yogurt - Western Heads East:
• I started getting every document that we give the Mamas translated into Luo. Communication is so important and I thought it would be a good idea to translate everything to ensure that as many Mamas as possible are informed about everything. The documents included the interns' goals, meeting minutes, and information about the upcoming music festival.
• The Oyugis Mamas decided to increase their wages from 50 Ksh to 100 Ksh (approx. $1.25) per day which is great!

PREPARATION FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL:
• Some students from Ongiya Disi Preparatory School are coming to do some performances at the Music Festival. Ongiya Disi is the incredible school that the other interns and I supported last year. The children are very talented and truly inspirational and I know that they will put on a terrific performance like they always do.
• We are getting 100 t-shirts branded with the new Fiti Yogurt label that we have created. 50 t-shirts are for the Yogurt Mamas and interns while the other 50 are going to be given out for free to the first 50 customers who purchase 50 Ksh worth of yogurt. We are also getting 2 big banners made which both kitchens can use in the future. We are hoping that they will take the banners to the market when they sell yogurt.
• We have four different musicians/bands from Oyugis performing throughout the day. Ellena and I went to check out all of the groups this week to see them perform and discuss the festival.
• I spent a lot of time with my good friend Dennis putting up posters and giving out invitations/flyers for the Music Festival in Oyugis, Kadongo, and some other towns in between. We had a lot of fun and I appreciated him coming around with me...thanks Denno! :) The flyers are a lot more effective and important than the posters. Everyone wants a personal flyer...we had to emphasize to everyone that you don't need a flyer to attend, everyone is welcome!
 
Most Memorable Moments
• My best friends (aka the boys) speak to me in Luo now, it’s awesome. Everyone knows I am learning Luo and that I try to speak it as much as possible so the boys will sometimes say full sentences to me in Luo joking around but I will have no idea what they are saying. They always call me "bwana!" which is like "omera" (in Luo) or "man/dude" (in English). I also say "bwana" all the time now. It is hilarious, and I love it :)
• Saturday evening I helped Mama Sophia by carrying a tub of yogurt packets to the spot where she sells in the market. On the way there I stopped to chat with some people who were doing a marketing event for some radio station with a big truck and a PA system. I was asking them about their stage (aka truck) when all of these people started buying yogurt from me. It was really fun; I sold 17 packets in about 10 minutes :) I think it is a lot easier to sell something as a mzungu, so I really do respect what the Mamas are doing.
• I had a really interesting conversation with a local when I was buying credit (aka cell phone minutes) across the street on Saturday night. We talked a lot about Canada and Kenya and the reasons for poverty: the high population growth rate, education, and the government. I appreciated when he commented about how social I am with the locals...it made me happy to hear that :)
• Aliza and I went to the new hotel next door for some amazing live music. It was a group of four men with locally made instruments (a drum, string instrument similar to a violin, and a triangle type instrument) and they were so incredible! We danced and I even played the triangle, it was so much fun.
• Watching the World Cup Final at Sports House with the boys....YAY SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Life in Oyugis
• There is a swing fair ride in town and it is AMAZING! People have been setting up the ride for a couple days now in Raila Grounds (the big open space where our Music Festival will be held) but it finally started operating on Tuesday and I saw the first run. It costs 20 Ksh (about $0.25 CAD) to ride and it lasts for a couple minutes. It is similar to the swing rides we have back home at amusement parks but with an African touch. Some of the other interns think it is super sketchy but of course I think it is so cool and I couldn't wait to ride it! :) I finally rode it on Sunday night with my good friend Morris and it was sooooooooooooo AWESOME! I was definitely the craziest person on the ride grabbing the swings on either side of me to spin.
• I saw a group of young children smiling and dancing around a burning pile of garbage. Although it’s not great for the environment, it’s a source of entertainment for the kids.
• I learned a little bit from a good piki piki friend of mine about the life of a piki piki (motorbike) driver. Most of the drivers don't own the motorbikes, they pay a flat rate to the owner every day and the money that they make from day to day can fluctuate significantly. He explained to me the importance of customer service and being friendly. It was really cool... I love learning more. I appreciated when he commented on how I came back to Oyugis and how I ask so many questions because I must be interested and enjoy learning about it.
• Chillin' with the boys at their hangout spot outside Sports House is now my favourite past time :)
 
Life in Kenya
• A local friend of mine commented how Kenya's leaders are leaders only by title, not by example. It is sad but true. Unfortunately nepotism is too common here.
• There is a fairly popular legal drug called mirra that I've seen a couple people chewing these days. It is a plant, a mild stimulant that gives you a slight high and keeps you up for hours. You chew the bark of the plant and it is usually taken with gum or ground nuts (aka peanuts). I was told by some friends who were chewing it that it is one of Kenya's main cash crops.
 

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Market Research

Date: Monday June 28 to Sunday July 4
Day 28 to 34


This week we conducted interviews in Oyugis, Kadongo and other surrounding areas to collect some information on the market we are working in. It was great for us to learn more about the buying behaviours and preferences of the market while gathering some very interesting information that can benefit the Mamas. We did a total of 150 interviews throughout the week hiring some of my local friends as translators/research assistants. Each interview took about 30 - 45 minutes and we gave out complimentary packets of yogurt and a thank you flyer with a map of both kitchens to all participants.

Not only were the interviews great for market research but it was also great to create some awareness about Jiko La Jamii dairies, Fiti Yogurt, and probiotics. We had a couple situations where people brought up the free yogurt being given away to people living with HIV/AIDS and how they thought that the yogurt was only for HIV positive people. We were able to create awareness about Fiti Yogurt and educate people on the benefits of probiotics while eliminating any myths and misconceptions. Overall the market research was extremely successful, beneficial, and also very fun!

On Thursday we celebrated Canada Day!!!!!!! The four of us were very spirited, just like last year, and we went all out with red and white, Canadian clothing, and red lipstick on our faces in the shape of maple leafs. As if we didn’t already get enough attention...now we had even more :)

Jiko La Jamii Dairies - Western Heads East:
• I set up two potential sales opportunities for the Mamas at two small shops in Mikai (about 20 minutes from Oyugis, 10 minutes from Kadongo) while doing market research there. I discussed the wholesaler selling price and the profits that they would make and inquired about other milk products that they sold. The Mamas would have to discuss transportation including the cost and logistics of everything.
• I saw a woman in the market wearing an Orande Women's Group dress (a dark blue dress that they all have) selling milk from containers just like ours but she was not a Yogurt Mama. I believe she was trying to look like one of our Yogurt Mamas. We are going to brand the aprons very soon so that no one can pretend to be associated with the project when they are not.
• We have started organizing things for the big Music Festival we have planned for July 16th. This involves running around town everywhere to book things and look into the costs of renting a PA system, a stage, chairs, tents, etc. We've been sending around our friends/research assistants to do most of these things so that we don't get overcharged being mzungus.
• On Thursday we had a little "tea party" to bring both groups of Yogurt Mamas (Kadongo and Oyugis) together to discuss the Fiti Yogurt label. We really want them to have a good relationship with each other so that they can work together for their mutual benefit without any conflict. We decided to bring some beads to make necklaces and earrings as a fun activity that the Mamas could all do together. Unfortunately the tension between certain Mamas in the two groups is too much and the tea party was a little awkward and intense at times. I really wish that the Mamas could be professional and work together but I don't think it will ever happen. The main problem is between the leaders of both kitchens.
• As Kinleigh, the Oyugis Mamas, and I walked to the matatu to head to the tea party in Kadongo I tried to come up with some cheer/chant to lift the Mama's moods. When I yelled "FITI!" the Mamas yelled "YOGURT!" It worked out pretty well and this is now our official cheer for both kitchens :) We also sang in the matatu which was fun.
• We did our first lesson plan/business discussion in Oyugis on Sunday and it went pretty well. I think it’s a really great idea that we are having these discussions to exchange knowledge for the Mamas' benefit and for our research. We discussed all record keeping documents and Fiti Yogurt's competitive advantage. We tried very hard to make sure that it was a discussion and not a business lecture from us.

Challenges
• COMMUNICATION! Communication is key. Communication is everything. We have had a couple problems now related to work with miscommunication. It is so important to tell the Mamas absolutely EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING that you are doing. It is extremely hard to communicate with everyone when we can't speak to certain Mamas and when other leaders in the project are not helping and supporting us.
• It is extremely difficult to get all the Mamas' input on certain things because they all follow the leader(s) in the kitchen and they don't express their own personal opinion. When we asked the Mamas about which packaging label/logo they liked the best the Kadongo Mamas all chose 1 design and the Oyugis Mamas all chose 1 other different design. Out of 7 different sample logos only 2 were chosen by the Mamas. Unfortunately the 2 designs that they chose were completely different from the designs that were most popular from our market research. It was also very difficult to get a discussion going about what they liked and what they didn't like even when we emphasized to them that we were going to mix and match (i.e. choose the best things from each of the 7 samples) and put them all together to create 1 logo.

Most Memorable Moments:
• Eating lunch at a little hotel in the small town of Mikai during the market research interviews. I was so excited when I found out that I was the very first mzungu to eat in the hotel! It was a small wooden shack with a tin roof and a couple wooden tables and chairs. I had chai with mandazi. It was really cool and fun, I loved it!
• Four weeks in and I finally saw this young girl Daisy and her younger brother who I was friends with last year! I was so happy.
• Sitting in the boot of a car with Kinleigh and Emily on the way to Kendu Bay, Lake Victoria for a little Saturday afternoon trip. There were 12 people total in a small Toyota...4 in the front, 4 in the middle, and 4 in the boot (1 man jumped in the boot with us right before we left). It was pretty hilarious, 12 people in a tiny car for about 45 minutes on a very bumpy rocky road. I enjoyed it though, it was fun!
• Playing pool/billiards in Kendu Bay. Pool tables are fairly common here and they are a great source of entertainment for idle men. I played Cliff and Morris (two of my friends), beat them, and then went on to play the manager/owner of the pool table. I was close to winning but unfortunately I lost... if I had won I would have been the best pool player in Kendu Bay :)
• Singing the Shakira "Waka Waka" song with some kids as we went on a walk. A group of kids and I sang it together and it was amazing!

Life in Oyugis
• I'm pretty much in heaven here with all of the kids. There are so many kids EVERYWHERE and they are so cute!
• On Thursday it was the first of the month and I had to witness my favourite little girls next door (Sachbeah, Dierdre/Tracy, and Everlyne) being evicted from their house. A large crowd was gathered in front of their home as the landlord and others emptied their furniture and belongings on the front lawn as everyone watched. It was terrible and I felt sad...I couldn't believe it. All of the other interns had delayed me from leaving the hotel that morning because they had seen it first and they were worried about what my reaction would be. I'm sad that they are no longer outside my window :( I miss the girls and I wish that they didn't have to go.
• Men get very drunk very early in the day. I interviewed one man on Friday and realized that he was drunk after a couple questions in. When I asked "at what time of day do you take yogurt?" he replied "when I'm tipsy", and then when I asked "do you check the expiry date on products?" he replied "I don't care about the expiry date when I'm tipsy'. It was pretty hilarious.

Life in Kenya
• Breastfeeding in public is very common. One woman I interviewed was breastfeeding her child the entire time.
• Although caning is illegal in Kenya it still happens and some parents even encourage teachers to do it. Unfortunately I could hear two young students being whipped by their teacher right behind my back as I was doing interviews at a primary school. I hated being there...it is so terrible. Later my friend told me that when he was in grade school he was whipped for getting a math question wrong.
• I can't stand the way that the majority of managers treat their employees here. The manager at the new hotel next door is terrible. He pays his employees nothing, talks down to them, and treats them very poorly. The staff is so sweet and so great and they deserve so much more.